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Month: June 2017

Concerned Citizens win the appeal

By Rebecca Zemencik, Managing Editor • rebecca-z@citizenstandard.com

HEGINS – It’s back to the drawing boards for an Act 537 plan for Hegins and Hubley Townships.
The Concerned Citizens of Hegins Township were the victor last Wednesday when the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board ruled to sustain the appeal of the Concerned Citizens who challenged the joint sewer plan which had previously been approved by the Department of Environmental Protection.
The appellants of the case included Roger Wetzel, William Wolfgang, Randy Shadle, Kenneth Richter, Kenneth Graham and Harry Mausser.
“My clients are certainly happy and feel vindicated since the ruling came down,” said Concerned Citizens Attorney Kevin M. Walsh Jr., of Donald G. Karpowich, Attorney-at-law, Drums. “They are happy that they are helping those who wouldn’t have been able to afford the sewer rates. They are not opposed to a public sewer system, they just want an affordable one.”

DONALDSON — The end of the June 6 meeting of the Frailey Township Board of Supervisors got a little “catty” as one resident described a problem she is having with stray cats.
“I went into my garage and saw a lot of damage the cat did,” the resident told the board. “It ripped slats out of my Venetian blind, knocked over a few items. I even had a few paw prints on my hood and windshield.”
Supervisor Donald Allar sympathized with the resident, but could not do much about it, going into a little tirade of their own.
“We tried to fight the problem a few years ago, paying a lady to conduct trap, neuter and release spots in the area, but after the first time we never heard from her again,” Allar said. “Who knows how many stray cats are in the area?”

Teams play Friday for PIAA gold at State College

Monday, June 12
PIAA Class A Semifinals
Williams Valley 9, Meyersdale 5
BELLEFONTE — Williams Valley used seven runs in the first inning to pull away from Meyersdale and punch their ticket for a return to the PIAA Class A State Championship game.
Seven hits and seven runs punctuated the inning when Williams Valley sent 12 batters to the plate, led by Kali Whitcomb having two hits in the frame.
Morgan Updegrove and Autumn Calnon also had two hits in the game. Since the offense took care of itself, the team went on defense for ace Stevie Unger, who bent but didn’t break as she allowed five runs in the game while striking out seven and walking five, winning her 17th game of the season.
Williams Valley will see a familiar foe in State College as they take on the District Seven champion West Greene, the Vikings opponent is last year’s final, with the game on Friday at 11 a.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park.
Meyersdale — 030 002 0 — 5 11 2
Williams Valley — 710 001 x — 9 15 0
W — Unger. L — Deakins.
Hits: Meyersdale — Cerreta 2, McKenzie, Miller, Leonard 2, K. Kretchman, Deakins 2, Haer. Williams Valley — Whitcomb 2, Pinchorski, Achenbach, Updegrove 2, Calnon 2, K. Ferron 4, Neiman, Bordner, Hoffman.
2B — Calnon, Ferron. HR — Leonard.
PIAA Class AAA Semifinals
Pine Grove 10, Mid-Valley 6
WILKES-BARRE — One year ago, Pine Grove fell one game short of playing in the Class AA championship game. With the new classifications, the Cardinals moved up in class, but kept their game intact.
The challenge in the higher classification paid off as Pine Grove defeated Mid Valley to reach Friday’s state championship game against South Park at 4 p.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park on the campus of Penn State University.
After spotting Mid Valley a 1-0 lead in the first, Pine Grove broke the game open in the third with five runs. two of them coming on a single from Caitlyn Becher, then Faith Sleva cleared the loaded bases with a double, putting the Cardinals up 5-1.
After Mid Valley closed the gap to 5-3, Pine Grove came up with another five runs, four of them coming on a play that saw Kate Rittenbaugh hit a shot to center field that scored two runners but with the over throw going into the Pine Grove dugout, the umpires cleared the bases and put Pine Grove up 10-3.
Mid Valley added runs in the sixth and seventh but pitcher Liv Lehman was impressive on the mound, striking out eight and walking one to win her 22nd of the season and reach Friday’s championship game.
Mid Valley — 100 201 2 — 6 11 1
Pine Grove — 005 050 x — 10 11 3
W — L. Lehman. L — Mitchko.
Hits: Mid Valley — Jason 2, Mills 3, Pawelski, Harrington 2, Morano, Mitchko, N. Kalinoski. Pine Grove — Rittenbaugh 3, Kaufman 3, Becher, Nagle 3, Sleva.
2B — Harrington, Mitchko, Rittenbaugh, Kaufman, Sleva.
Thursday, June 8
PIAA Class A Quarterfinals
Williams Valley 6, Northeast Bradford 2
TURBOTVILLE — The familiar formula worked for Williams Valley, great pitching plus timely hitting with some good base running means victory
After spotting Northeast Bradford a 1-0 lead in top of the first, Williams Valley took over scoring two in the bottom half of the inning on Autumn Calnon’s two-run double that scored Kali Whitcomb and Mya Achenbach. Whitcomb got an RBI of her own in the second with the safety squeeze bunt scored Maddy Bordner.
Kenna Ferron and Jamie Neiman also had RBIs in the game, giving a nice cushion for pitcher Stevie Unger to work from the mound, striking out six and allowing nine hits, as Northeast Bradford didn’t score again until the seventh inning.
The win put Williams Valley in the June 12 semifinals against the District V champion Meyersdale, who defeated Glendale 15-2.
Northeast Bradford — 100 000 1 — 2 9 1
Williams Valley — 211 020 x — 6 8 0
W — Unger. L — Slater.
Hits: Northeast Bradford — Slater, Brown 2, Williams 2, Wheaton 2, Boardman. Williams Valley — Whitcomb, Pinchorski, Achenbach, Updegrove, Calnon, Ferron, Neiman, Bordner.
2B — Updegrove, Calnon, Bordner.
PIAA Class AAA Quarterfinal
Pine Grove 17, Dock Mennonite 3, 5 inn.
ALLENTOWN — The Lady Cardinals scored in every inning to come away with the victory over Dock Mennonite Academy, reaching the state semifinals for the second straight year.
Pine Grove scored 17 runs on 13 hits, five of them for extra bases including catcher Trish Kopinetz’s two solo home runs in the game.
Kopinetz and pitcher Liv Lehman led the team with three hits each while Faith Sleva added two of her own, a pair of doubles.
Liv Lehman won game 21 of her pitching season, striking out four and walking none in the win. Pine Grove now moves on to take on the District II champion, Mid Valley, in the semifinals.
Pine Grove — 214 54 — 17 13 1
Dock Mennonite — 200 10 — 3 3 3
W — L. Lehman. L — Gordon.
Hits: Pine Grove — Rittenbaugh, Kopinetz 3, Becher, L. Lehman 3, Hasenauer, Sleva 2, M. Lehman, Hindman. Dock Mennonite — Beck, Bolton 2.
2B — Sleva 2, L. Lehman, Beck. 3B — L. Lehman. HR — Kopinetz 2, Bolton.

Teams reach state quarterfinals

Thursday, June 8
PIAA Class A quarterfinals
Meyersdale 9, Millersburg 0
DILLSBURG — Millersburg was held to just three hits as Meyersdale advanced in the PIAA Class A baseball tournament, ending the Indians season.
Colton Zimmerman, Logan Troutman, and Tyler Shultz hit safely for Millersburg, which finishes the season with a 16-17 record.
Christian Wingard took the loss for the Indians, striking out four while walking seven and six earned runs on six hits.
Millersburg — 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
Meyersdale — 201 240 0 — 9 10 4
W — Christner. L — Wingard.
Hits: Millersburg — Zimmerman, Troutman, Shultz. Meyersdale — D. Kretchman, B. Kretchman, Eberly, McKenzie 2, Christner 2, Gnagey, Hotchkiss 2.
2B — Eberly. 3B — D. Kretchman, Christner.
PIAA Class A Quarterfinal
High Point Baptist 4, Tri-Valley 3, 11 innings
FREDERICKSBURG — In a back-and-forth affair that brought high drama to the fans of both teams, a simple high flyball provided all the difference in bringing a winner to advance to the state semifinals.
Steven Mattia hit a sacrifice fly to score Zak Kauffman to give the District III champions the extra-inning win and end Tri-Valley’s season with an 18-6 record.
Tri-Valley was first on the board after Peyton Poletti, standing on second, moved to third when a pickoff throw went to centerfield, and then the throwback was misplayed and the ball went by the second baseman and all the way to the High Point dugout, enabling Poletti to score.
After High Point went up 3-1, Tri-Valley tied it up after sacrifice fly balls by Logan Yoder in the sixth and Ike Lucas in the seventh. The two teams had their chances in later innings before High Point went for an unsuccessful suicide squeeze in the 11th before hitting the deep pop-up and being a half a step faster than the throw to come up with the win.
Dawson Schwalm, the Bulldogs’ starting pitcher, led the team with two hits, including a double. Bubba Smith took the loss on the mound in relief
Tri-Valley — 001 001 100 00 — 3 7 3
High Point — 001 020 000 01 — 4 7 6
W — Kauffman. L — Smith.
Hits: Tri-Valley — Schwalm 2, Kimmel, Yoder, Buchanan, Poletti. High Point Baptist — Kauffman, R. Howe, Stoltzfus, Morgan, Martin 3.
2B — Schwalm, Kauffman, R. Howe.
Wednesday, June 7
PIAA Class A First Round
Tri-Valley 2, Sayre 0
MANSFIELD — It took three days, but Tri-Valley finally got the win in the 2017 state baseball tournament.
After the game was rained out on June 5, and suspended in the third inning on June 6, Tri-Valley and District IV champion Sayre finished their ball game with the Bulldogs moving on to the state quarterfinals.
Tri-Valley first scored in the fifth inning when Ike Lucas first singled, then moved to second on a hit by Dawson Schwalm, before Will Kimmel hit a single that bounced over the glove of the Sayre third baseman that brought Lucas home.
Logan Yoder had the other RBI in the game, driving home Schwalm with a line drive to right field. Schwalm finished the game with three hits to lead Tri-Valley.
Willy Kimmel got the complete game victory, striking out two and allowing one walk and four hits.
With the delays, Tri-Valley would play in the quarterfinal less than 24 hours later, taking on the District III champion High Point Baptist in Fredericksburg.
Tri-Valley — 000 010 1 — 2 10 1
Sayre — 000 000 0 — 0 4 2
W — Kimmel. L — Rockwell.
Hits: Tri-Valley — Schwalm 3, Kimmel 2, Yoder, Buchanan, Masser, Lucas. Sayre — Williams, Rockwell, C. Hanifan, Q. Hanifan.
2B — Buchanan.

MANDATA — Despite eliminating two teaching positions and raising taxes by 2.53 mills, Line Mountain School District faces a more than $400,000 deficit for the 2017-18 school year.
The board approved a $19,462,037 budget that would raise the average tax bill by $36 on a 6-1 vote Tuesday, May 23.
The lone dissenting vote was cast by Director Marlin Yeager Jr., who said he has heard many residents say taxes are too high in the district.
Superintendent David M. Campbell advocated for the tax increase, saying he felt the district had no other choice. Even after cutting a kindergarten teacher and an elementary reading specialist, the district faced a $586,301 deficit. Both positions were eliminated through retirements, he said. (more…)

SUNBURY — Senior Judge William H. Wiest passed away Saturday.
The longtime county judge was celebrated as a fixture of kindness and generosity in Northumberland County, especially in the Dalmatia area, where he resided for most his life.
Though perhaps best known as a judge, Wiest was a notable philanthropist. In addition to other charitable acts, he and his wife, Karen, helped initiate a program through the Spreading Antlers Children’s Foundation that brought local elementary school students to the Sunbury YMCA for swimming lessons. The couple also established a scholarship program in memory of two of their children for Line Mountain School District students. (more…)